On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.

Today in baseball history:

1880 – In Albany’s Riverside Park, Lip Pike hits a ball over the wall and into the river. RF Lon Knight begins to go after the ball in a boat but gives up. Few parks have ground rules about giving the batter an automatic home run on a hit over the fence. (2)

1892 – Behind Bill Hutchison, Chicago wins its 13th straight game, 1-0, over Pud Galvin and the Pirates. Galvin surrenders only two hits in the loss, none before the eighth inning. The streak will stop the following day. (2)

1893 – Held scoreless for the first eight innings, both Brooklyn and the Boston Beaneaters score three runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Boston’s Billy Nash hits the ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth, but he stays on third base “to bother the pitcher.” (1,2)

1901 – Giants fractious owner Andrew Freedman accuses umpire Billy Nash of incompetence and bars him from the Polo Grounds. The Pirates’ Charles Zimmer and the Giants’ John Warner are forced to officiate. Christy Mathewson then wins his seventh straight, 2-1, but his scoreless streak stops at 39 innings when the Bucs score an unearned run in the ninth.

1907 – Three-Finger Brown and Christy Mathewson hook up in a pitching duel, with the Chicago ace emerging the winner, 3-2. Matty’s batterymate Roger Bresnahan commits two errors to cause Mathewson to lose his first of the year. Mobbed at the Polo Grounds after the loss, umpires Hank O’Day and Bob Emslie require police protection. The crowd is egged on by manager John McGraw, who will be thrown out of games seven times this year. (2)

1910 – Cy Young won his 500th game as the Cleveland Indians defeated Washington 5-4 in 11 innings. (1,3)

1917 – The Phillies use nine hits – one by each starter – to beat the Cubs, 4-3, and drop the Cubs from first to third. The Phils move into second place behind the Giants. Eppa Rixey is the winner for the Quakers. (2)

1927 – The Cubs move into first place in the National League when a nine-run ninth inning gives them a 11-6 win and doubleheader sweep at Brooklyn. Chicago takes the opener, 6-4. For the second day in a row, a disputed call – this one by Frank Wilson – causes fans to stop the game. Meanwhile, the Pirates are beating New York for the third straight game, 5-3. (2)

1936 – The Phillies reacquire Chuck Klein, from the Cubs, along with P Fabian Kowalik and a reported $50,000, for P Curt Davis and OF Ethan Allen. Klein is hitting .294 this year for the Cubs. (2)

1948 – At the Polo Grounds, the Giants drop an 8-3 decision to the Cubs. New York rookie Les Layton, in his first major league at-bat, hits a pinch homer in the ninth off Johnny Schmitz. (2)

1968 – The Cubs climb above the .500 mark the first time all season with a 6-5 win over the Phillies. Chicago’s Billy Williams sets a new record for outfielders by playing his 695th straight game. (2)

2014 – What does the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija have to do to get a win? Today, the major leagues’ ERA leader pitches seven scoreless innings, but Hector Rondon blows a 2-0 9th-inning lead against the Yankees to send the game into extra innings. In the 13th, Yankees pitcher Preston Claiborne lays down a perfect sacrifice bunt in his first major league plate appearance as part of a two-run rally, Jose Veras throws a wild pitch to let in a first run and back-up catcher John Ryan Murphy drives in another with a single as the Bronx Bombers end up on top, 4-2. Samardzija is 0-4 in spite of a 1.46 ERA. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Pop Williams, Curt Simmons, Luis Salazar, Fritzie Connally, Turk Wendell*, Scott McClain, Josh Paul, Erich Uelmen. Also notable: Ed Walsh HOF.

Today in history:

1536 – Anne Boleyn, second wife of English King Henry VIII, is beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason.

1643 – Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven form the United Colonies of New England.

1857 – Americans William Francis Channing and Moses G. Farmer patent the electric fire alarm.

1884 – Ringling Brothers circus premieres in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

1926 – National Broadcasting Company (NBC) founded by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

2161 – Syzygy: Eight of nine planets are forecast to align on the same side of the Sun.

Common sources:

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid. We are trying to set the record as straight as possible, but it isn’t brain surgery. We take it seriously, but there are limits.